Eagles Can’t Put Sea Kings Away

If the Sea View League girls’ volleyball opener between Corona del Mar and Santa Margarita is an indication, the teams are in for quite a battle this season.

Corona del Mar pulled out the first victory, rallying from a two-game deficit to win, 11-15, 8-15, 15-13, 15-12, 15-11, Tuesday night at Santa Margarita, but it’s clear that not much separates them.

Each team showed signs of having the mettle to put the other away; the Sea Kings (3-3, 1-0) just showed a bit more and were able to beat the Eagles (2-2, 0-1) for the first time in four or five years, according to Corona del Mar Coach Steve Conti.

“That’s a good team and they’re not going to give up,” Conti said. “We were going to have to keep going after it to win and that’s exactly what we did.”

Santa Margarita seemed to have the match in hand early, winning the first two games and taking 10-7 and 13-12 leads in the third. But the Sea Kings closed out the game with three consecutive points, the last two on kills by junior outside hitter Jaime Brownell, who had 16 kills in the match.

Junior outside hitter Dimitra Havriluk, who had a match-high 23 kills, was strong in the final two games and the Sea Kings took advantage by going to her often.

The Eagles also led late in Game 4, 11-9, but again the Sea Kings turned it around. Brownell, who had four aces in the game, served four points during a 6-0 run that made it 14-11 and the Sea Kings won, 15-12.

Corona del Mar went on a 9-0 run early in the fifth game to lead 10-4 and increased that to 13-5. Santa Margarita rallied, scoring the next six points, five on kills by senior middle blocker Sarah Ballog (20 kills, nine blocks) to make it 13-11.

After a side out, the Sea Kings scored the 14th point on a disputed play. Santa Margarita setter Anna Mosich appeared to have dug a spike by Havriluk, but because she did it with her hands up, the referee called her for blocking from the back row.

Santa Margarita Coach Eddie Rapp, who received a yellow card earlier in Game 5, went across the court to argue the call. As he turned to walk away, the referee pulled out the red card.

Because a red-card violation gives a point to the opposing team, the match was over.

“She was on the back row and she dug the ball,” Rapp said. “It was a very questionable call. Unfortunately, that’s how it ended.”

In other Sea View League matches:

Irvine 3, El Toro 0--Katie Aguirre had nine kills for El Toro (2-5, 0-1), which lost, 15-2, 15-11, 15-7.

Newport Harbor 3, Woodbridge 0--April Ross had seven kills for Newport Harbor (5-0, 1-0), which won, 15-4, 15-2, 15-9.